Halo Holland!
Ik ben in Holland! I am in Holland! The past weekend I had the oppertunity and honour to attend a Dutch McGuire Course. The Course was held in a city called Nijmegen, which is said to be the oldest city in Holland. As soon as I set foot in the Netherlands I felt a kind of atmospheer that I haven't felt anywhere else. First of all, they drive on the wrong side of the road, on the right. And for a person who has been used to being on the left side of the road you cannot help but fear that a crash is not far away, which is of course a false fear. Another uniqueness of holland that immedeately caught my attention was the bicycles. Thousands upon thousands of iron ponies and their upright sitting riders everywhere. It creates a feeling of health awareness, space awareness and just a plain cosy feeling. All the roads are also fully adapted to accomodate bicycles with special lanes and traffic lights. The course that I took part in was absolutely great. I met some amazing people from all over, there was a total of nine nationalities that attended the course and with 24 graduates and 4 new students . The course was also multilingual as being part dutch and part english. With my Afrikaans backround I am able to understand about 70% of dutch and visa versa(or so I think??). I did 98% of my contacts during the course in dutch and definately entertained AND confused most of my smilling/frowing victims. My contatcs are now on a total of 4273. I plan to spend another 3 weeks in holland and I'm looking forward to taste all the Dutch dishes whith names I don't understand and entertain the ducth public with my language skills. Also I would like to thank all of my old and new friends that joined me on the course for their support, encouragement and comradeship.Danke well zeer! Tonight I'm staying in a hostel (jeugherberg) in Arnhem, I found this hostel thanks to 2 very friendly ducth ladies whom I approached with a praticed dutch phrase when I found myself lost again in a strange city. They were so nice to even drove me to the hostel! 2 point for the ducth! Tomorrow I plan to take my first ride on a dutch-1 gear-2 light-back pedal brake bicycle!
Michael hier, van de mcguire cursus,
ik ben veilig thuis gekomen,
en ik vondt het heel fijn om je ontmoet te hebben,
ik vindt het erg knap van je dat je helemaal alleen rond de wereld reist
en wat ik even wil zeggen, ik heb er erg van genoten je te horen spreken op de cursus.
ik zal je binnen de 3 weken dat je hier in holland nog bent eens bellen. zoals ik al had gezegt,
ik vindt het een leuk stukje wat je hebt geschreven.
en ik heb heel erg genoten van het dansje wat heb hebben opgevoerd in het hotel.
en ik hoop elkaar nog eens te ontmoetten!
Groetjes
Michael Schiffelers
ps. Stay Costal!
(Comment this)
Ek trek binnekort Roodepoort toe. Mis jou man! En eks baie jaloers op jou travels... Geniet elke oomblik daarvan. Praat later.
Eben. (Comment this)
Jou reise en ervarings klink na sooo 'n groot avontuur! Ek sien altyd met groot verwagting uit na die nuwe nuus op die blog, en die res van die familie is net so nuuskierig. Geniet elke ooblik ten volle!
Liefde Erna (Comment this)
Groete,
J (Comment this)